On Aug. 28, 1993, NASA's Galileo spacecraft flew by the asteroid Ida on its way Jupiter.
Galileo was the first spacecraft to fly by an asteroid in the asteroid belt. Ida was actually the second one it visited after another flyby of the asteroid Gaspra in 1991. It whizzed by Ida going almost 28,000 miles per hour and came within 1,500 miles of the asteroid's surface. During the encounter, Galileo actually discovered a tiny moon orbiting Ida! This was the first confirmed satellite of an asteroid. The International Astronomical Union named the moon Dactyl after a group of mythological beings who lived on a sacred mountain called Mount Ida.
Galileo was the first spacecraft to fly by an asteroid in the asteroid belt. Ida was actually the second one it visited after another flyby of the asteroid Gaspra in 1991. It whizzed by Ida going almost 28,000 miles per hour and came within 1,500 miles of the asteroid's surface. During the encounter, Galileo actually discovered a tiny moon orbiting Ida! This was the first confirmed satellite of an asteroid. The International Astronomical Union named the moon Dactyl after a group of mythological beings who lived on a sacred mountain called Mount Ida.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:03In 1993, NASA's Galileo spacecraft flew by the asteroid Ida on its way to Jupiter.
00:09Galileo was the first spacecraft to fly by an asteroid in the asteroid belt.
00:13Ida was actually the second one it visited after another flyby of the asteroid Gaspara in 1991.
00:18Galileo whizzed by Ida going almost 28,000 miles per hour and came within 1,500 miles of the asteroid's surface.
00:25During the encounter, Galileo actually discovered a tiny moon orbiting Ida.
00:29This was the first confirmed satellite of an asteroid.
00:32The International Astronomical Union named the moon Dactyl
00:35after a group of mythological beings who lived on a sacred mountain called Mount Ida.
00:39And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:42♪ MUSIC ♪